


A Dog's Life

by sksdwrld



Series: Asterisk [25]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 16:11:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1611329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sksdwrld/pseuds/sksdwrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elliot plays with Ruby for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dog's Life

**Author's Note:**

> For openveinwriting at LJ, prompt request and fill.

"Here you go," Carlos said, passing a brand new baseball to Elliot. "She's going to chew the hell out of it and that's fine, just don't let her eat the guts, it makes her sick."

Elliot nodded as he eyed the baseball, then hefted it in his hand a minute, accustoming himself to its weight. Now was not the time to start reflecting on the fact that he was twenty years old and this was the first time he'd ever laid hands on a baseball. Ruby yipped excitedly and reared onto her hind legs, pawing at the ball. Elliot's fingers tightened instinctively around it.

"Tell her 'down' or she's going to climb all over you," Carlos instructed.

"D-down, Ruby," Elliot stammered.

"Like you mean it," Carlos said with a bemused roll of his eyes.

"Get down!" Elliot said in an only slightly more commanding tone. Huffing, Ruby dropped to all fours and pushed her weight against Elliot's legs instead. As he stumbled back a step, catching himself against the table, Ruby's tongue lolled out of her mouth, making her look as if she were laughing.

"Oh yeah, she thinks she's funny," Carlos smirked, tugging her leash from the hook and passing it to Elliot. "You can let her off the leash when you get to the park. She'll come when you call her."

"You're not coming this first time?" Elliot swallowed.

"Nah, got shit to do. You're fine though, I trust you."

"Maybe you shouldn't," Elliot hedged.

"Alright, so I trust Ruby to manage you just fine. Go, Elliot. Play ball. Bet you can't have a bad time." Carlos dropped to one knee and rubbed Ruby all over before giving her a hug. "Take care of our boy, Ruby. Make sure he comes back in one piece."

Ruby barked once and then again. Carlos laughed, patted her rump, and pushed to his feet, giving Elliot's shoulder a similar slap. "Go on, get out of here before she really starts barking."

To say that Ruby dragged Elliot the dog park was an overstatement. She was very well behaved and only pulled the lead a little. Once inside, she paused, bracing herself to bolt as Elliot unclipped the leash from her harness. As she bounded across the lawn, Elliot was afraid that she'd never come back. But after making a wide circle, rooting around a couple of benches and marking a few places on the fence, she came trotting back. Ruby sat on her haunches, barked, and then got up again, nosing the hand that held the ball. Elliot switched the ball to his left hand and offered his empty, flattened palm to her. She licked it but immediately went to the other side, graduating the ball.

Elliot chuckled. "Okay, I get it. Bear with me here, I've never thrown one of these things before." He turned the ball in his hand and then pulled his arm back. Ruby cocked her head. "Don't laugh at me, it's not my fault. I wasn't allowed to play outside. I'm just like Colin in _The Secret Garden_...what, you haven't read it?" After a few practice swings, Elliot decided overhand was not the way to go and he stooped to roll the baseball like a bowling ball instead. Not a foot away, Ruby pounced on it and brought it back.

"No good, eh? You're too quick for me. I'll try to lob it, watch your head, I'm just as likely to kill us." And Elliot tried his hand at a simple, underhanded toss. Ruby eagerly leapt at it and caught it in mid-air before returning the ball to Elliot. "Show off," he grumbled, rubbing her head and scratching around her ears. "Are you trying to embarrass me in front of...this empty park of no humans?" He said, glancing around.

With a resigned sigh, he cocked his arm back and chucked the ball. It felt awkward throughout the entire motion and the ball spiked down toward the ground about five feet away. When Ruby brought the baseball back this time, she laid at his feet and began gnawing it in earnest. "It's probably for the best," Elliot murmured and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, Ruby, I've got all the functional parts of a guy, but I seem to have lost the user-manual."

She snorted and sneezed but carried on with the ball a bit. Elliot went to sit down on one of the nearby benches and tried to remember if he'd ever read or seen anything that would help him in the ball-throwing department. It wasn't long before Ruby came over and dropped the ball at his feet. It was covered with a thick coat of slime and Elliot groaned. "Really? Ugh..." he rolled it around in the grass with his foot, then gingerly picked it up between his finger and thumb, flinging it sideways in distaste. Surprisingly, the baseball went a fair distance and Ruby bounded happily after it.

Standing, Elliot flung the ball again and again, and each time it went a little farther than the last. Finally, Ruby flopped down, panting and licking the baseball. Elliot eased down into the grass beside Ruby and as he pet her gently, she rolled, displaying her belly. He laughed as he rubbed that too. "Oh, to be a dog..."


End file.
